Overview

Breakthrough ACTION RCCE project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement Global Health Security Risk Communication and Community Engagement to support the public sectors working on zoonotic disease before and during emergency. The project is working with the aim to accelerate the country’s progress toward implementation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) with an emphasis on risk communication. In addition, the project closely works with the National Health Steering Committee (a consortium of Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Wildlife Conservation Authority, and Environmental Protection Authority) to strengthen the multisectoral approach to prevent and control the emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases and beyond.

The prevention and control of these emerging and re-emerging diseases requires early joint and integrated multisectoral prevention, detection, and response. In addition, this requires early involvement of key actors in a joint detailed planning process that considers and prioritizes all eventualities in terms of risk and defines key actions to prepare communities and governments to respond in real time.

Thus, these Risk communication Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are intended to provide the necessary information and support to personnel on the front lines of public health response. The primary purpose of the SOPs is to describe the procedural steps that each responder must follow in the prevention, detection, and response to serious public health events. The standard operating procedures are a document that presents a description of the regular operations to ensure that the operations are conducted correctly (quality) and always in the same way (consistency). The focus is on infectious diseases in general, but priority zoonotic diseases in particular.

The development of SOPs is needed as a tool to improve the effectiveness of prevention, response, and recovery actions during an emergency such as diseases of animal origin that requires multisectoral response. Through these terms of reference, the Breakthrough -ACTION project, funded by USAID to support the Government of Ethiopia in responding effectively to epidemiological crises, intends to recruit a consultant for the development of an SOP on One Health risk communication.

Objectives of the Consultation

These include:

• Analyze the existing PHE SOPs at Ministry of Health, Ethiopian public Health Institute, and Ministry of Agriculture and review of international experience to better build the One Health risk communication SOPs.
• Facilitate SOP validation workshop with higher officials.
• Produce the final SOP and submit to BA RCCE project.

• Collect feedback from National One Health Communication Taskforce and integrate results to develop draft final document ready for validation workshop.
• Capture inputs and recommendations from validation workshop to enrich the SOPs.

• Work with the lead consultant to finalize the SOP manual considering the suggestions and recommendations from validation workshop.

Education, experience, and skills

• At least master’s degree in public health or veterinary public health, MD, or VD.
• Familiar with the “One Health” approach and its context in Ethiopia
• Knowledge of relevant government structures and policies (including the animal health sector and the environmental protection sector);
• Very good knowledge of the One Health risk communication strategy in Ethiopia.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English, with the ability to write strategic documents and SOP.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills

Deliverables and schedule for the consultation

• The duration of the consultation is thirty (6) days maximum.

• Collect and review relevant materials for SOP development = 1 days

• Write-up the draft SOPs and Submit to GHS & PHE advisor at CCP Ethiopia= 2 days

• Integrate comments and inputs and submit the first draft = 1 day

• Collect inputs from validation workshop= 1 day

• Integrate feedback and write up final SOPs=1 days

• The Draft SOP Manual must be submitted to the Breakthrough -ACTION Program no later than 10 days and the final SOP 30 days after the contract is signed

Request for additional information

For any questions of understanding or additional information related to this consultation, you can contact Mr. Tegegne Shiferaw by email at: tegegnes@jhu.edu and copying betemariama@jhu.edu